Modern BOM Block 9

This is my version of block number 9 of Sew, Mama, Sew's Modern Block-of-the-Month Sew-Along. Very easy to do. Now on to block number 10...

Modern BOM Block 8

 I'm a few months behind in the Sew, Mama, Sew Modern Block-of-the-Month Sew-Along, but I'm hoping to catch up in the next week or so. Here is Block #8 from February...

Some of the pieces are a bit wonky, but that's due to the fact that I chose to cut and sew them together a different way than the instructions say because I didn't want to deal with partial seams. But in the end, the wonkiness won't be so noticeable.

...and here are all of my completed blocks so far...

To see the rest of my posts about these blocks, click on the "SMS BOM" label on the right sidebar of this blog or click here.

Get Your Hankies Ready

When you think you've run out of people to make quilts for, think again....

Group Challenge Number Three

As promised yesterday, here's a shot of all of the quilts from the latest challenge of my art challenge quilting group. 

One person wasn't there for the group shot, but you can see her project below.

All of these look so much better in person....

Challenge Fun

This is my latest project for my art challenge group -- The mission this time was to use the theme of "spring" to create a piece using scraps from the other quilters in the group and a solid fabric. When I first selected the scraps, I had no clue what I was going to make. I just picked everyone's fabrics with dots. I thought about all of the usual spring holidays and themes -- Easter, flowers, bunnies, baskets, etc -- but nothing really moved me. So I did some more thinking about spring holidays and remembered the Maypole. So, what you see here is my version of the view looking up to the sky through the center of the Maypole.

Here's a shot of the quilt on point...I think setting blocks on point make quilts more visually interesting, so I wanted to take a photo of this piece on an angle (the dark background is not part of the quilt). It's not very large, only about 16 inches square.

Here's a closeup...

 I quilted the spiral using the walking foot on my machine. As you can see from the shot of the back, I didn't start right in the center. It was a bit wonky at first because it was a tight curve, but got a lot easier as I went out.

This journey with my fellow quilters has been a wonderful experience. I love each challenge, even with the frustrations involved, and am quite happy with all of my finished pieces. No, they're not masterpieces, but nevertheless, I'm proud to show them off. To see all my blog posts about the various challenges this group has had in the past, just click on the "OOLQ" label on my blog's right sidebar.

But you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see a photo of the "spring" pieces from the rest of the group...All of them are wonderful!

Warms My Heart

Some of you may remember this quilt...

I recently discovered a photo of the new owner holding my quilt -- click here to see the photo.

To read my posts about the quilt, click here and here.

This is one of the many reasons I love being a quilter!

Easter Goodies

My family celebrated Orthodox Easter yesterday and three of the smallest members received these Easter penny pockets filled with goodies. I made them using the tutorial I found here.

For info on the determination of the date of Easter in the Eastern Orthodox Church, click here.

Happy Easter To Those Who Celebrate Today

Rescued For ReUse (photo-heavy post)

One of the many reasons that I love to visit Ithaca, NY is this wonderful place filled with fabric and yarn and all sorts of fiber-related goodies, all of which have been "Rescued for ReUse" by the people who run the SewGreen Store.

This is basically a thrift store that specializes in fiber. Items here have been donated by quilters/knitters/seamstresses/tailors/etc, who have cleaned out their fiber stash and donated unwanted items to the store for re-sale. The money that is raised is used to give back to the community with sewing classes, job training, and consumer education. You can read a lot more about the store and its mission on its website.

I love their slogan...

I found a great deal on some Creative Grids rulers...

And a few other goodies... 

You never know what you'll find in SewGreen..the inventory is constantly changing.

I love their philosophy and I love the prices. Stop in if you're ever in the Ithaca area.

Excuses, Excuses

OK, some of you may remember that I not only changed my mind about a backing fabric for my Jane Stickle quilt, I also changed my mind about what thread to use in the quilting.

Here's a link to my post about my first thought about thread, and then a link to a post about changing my mind about the it.

This is it...no more changes allowed. I am going with the rainbow of colors and will take the time to change thread to match the individual blocks. Luckily, I have a wide variety of colors already in my So Fine thread stash, which means I can't use the excuse of not having any thread as a reason to delay starting the quilting.

But I can think of another excuse...I'm seeing some family members this weekend that I haven't seen in a couple of years, so I have to take my DJ top with me to show off. I may not see these people again for quite a while and since they are the type to appreciate the work I've put into the top, I need to delay the quilting for just one more short week....

Moosewood Monday

Another recipe that my husband and I both agree is a keeper....from a Moosewood Restaurant cookbook  It's their Black Bean and Chipotle Soup. Served with beef and bean quesadillas (sorry, no recipe for those...I just threw some ingredients together). Went great with a glass of Mount Hope Winery Sangria.

DJ Backing Update

Thank you to all who commented on my post from a couple of weeks ago about what to do about the backing fabric for my Jane Stickle quilt. After reading the comments and thinking about it for a while, I decided to buy the fabric that was basically the same fabric as I used for the dark triangles and sashing on the front of the quilt. I did my bit to help my LQS.

Of course, I made this decision AFTER ironing the original backing fabric...

Here's a closeup of the new backing....

So that meant I spent a good amount of time yesterday ironing this piece....Thankfully, it was wide backing, so I didn't have to piece it, too.

The ironing board is in my basement quilting studio...hence, the washed out photos. Both fabrics look much better in person.

Thank you again for your advice!

A Few Giggles

And for those of us with birding spouses....

Moosewood (And More) Monday

A few of my quilting friends and I took advantage of a sale at a sort-of-LQS (75 miles away) this past weekend and we had the bestest day ever (well, OK, I'm exaggerating a bit, but I think we all agreed that we had a grand time).

Our day was spent in Ithaca, NY with stops at Quilters Corner (the shop with the sale), Sew Green (I've blogged about that place before and I'll have another post about our most recent visit soon), Joann's (nope, it's not closed like we all thought), Knitting Etc (I've almost succumbed to another fiber addiction), the GreenStar Co-op Natural Foods Market (if I lived closer, I'd definitely be a member), and our favorite grocery chain, Wegmans (my gosh, I could live in the Ithaca Wegmans). Whew!

I came home with the goodies you see in the photo (you can click on it for a larger view). Fabrics for a Dr. Seuss quilt, patterns for a fun bird-themed quilt, and a FQ bundle of Kaffe Fassett fabric, all packed up in a bright orange bag. I've been drooling over Kaffe's fabrics for several years now and finally gave myself permission to add some to my stash. Even if I don't use them soon, they will serve a purpose brightening up my quilting studio.

And in the middle of all that, we had lunch at our favorite Ithaca eatery, the Moosewood Restaurant. Here's the yummy stuff we had for lunch (clockwise from upper right) -- Tunisian Vegetable Stew over couscous, Spicy Black Bean Cake and Mango Salsa with sweet potatoes on the side, a California Pita Sandwich (with delish Creamy Vegetable Chowder that didn't make it into the photo), and Pizza Rustica with a side of green beans. As always, the Moosewood did not disappoint.

Thanks for all my friends who came along...I had a great time and am already planning our next fabric field trip!